Piracy threat always on horizon

Media may have moved on, but threat and hostages remain.

Somali piracy threat always on the horizon

Jon Gornall

The name Captain Phillips is familiar to millions around the world. He was the subject of the 2013 Tom Hanks film about an American cargo ship skipper who was freed by US Navy Seals after being taken captive by Somali pirates in 2009.

Almost no one, however, knows the names of 30 hostages who remain in captivity in Somalia, forgotten by the world.

Hostages for four years and nine months, four unnamed Thais from the fishing vessel Prantalay 12 seized 1,200 miles off the Somali coast on April 18, 2010 have spent longer in captivity than anyone who has been seized by the Somali pirates. Certainly longer than the four days endured by Richard Phillips, master of the Maersk Alabama.

Six of the Prantalay 12’s crew members were reported to have died when their vessel capsized in a storm and beached in its pirate anchorage on July 14, 2011, leaving the survivors with no ship and little hope of being freed for ransom.

Similarly, the 26 anonymous Asian crew of the fishing vessel Naham 3, taken in the Indian Ocean on March 26, 2012, remain in captivity.

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Source: thenational.ae